Kevin Spacey's Repugnant "Apology" for Alleged Child Abuse

Let me begin by stating that I believe Anthony Rapp and applaud him for his courage. It is never easy to process or speak about sexual assault, and especially not when the accused is someone who wields power in your personal or professional domain.

Before I analyze Kevin Spacey’s statement in response to the allegation that he sexually assaulted Anthony Rapp in 1986, I want to make something clear: Pedophilia has nothing to do with sexual orientation. The gender of the child a pedophile preys on is irrelevant. The ongoing conflation of criminals who molest boys with gayness is a serious problem, and Spacey has participated in perpetuating this damaging myth.

Rapp was 14 years old; Spacey was 26 years old. Since one party was not an adult, this was not a case of a man “making sexual advances,” as this situation is being characterized in the media. Fourteen-year-olds are not fair game for adults to hit on, and touching a minor is a serious crime.

Kevin Spacey’s response was a carefully crafted statement allowing him to avoid accountability and redirect the conversation. In so doing, he does not simply come out as gay but manages to throw the LGBTQIA+ community under the bus. I will explain how he does this later.

First, let us look at Spacey’s response to a Buzzfeed article accusing him of assaulting then 14-year-old Rapp:

Immediately, Spacey distances himself from his accuser, saying he has respect for him as an actor. Neither does he admit to having ever met Rapp in person nor does he indicate any respect for him as a person—just as an actor. So, he dehumanizes his accuser. He goes on to state that he was “beyond horrified” to hear Rapp’s account of what happened, as if it was a story about someone else. This is when he expressly begins to absolve himself from blame by highlighting that it was a long time ago and he has no recollection of it. This sets the stage for what is to be a disingenuous apology.

The actual apology part of this statement begins in a detached manner: “if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology.” This is worded deliberately to highlight the passage of time since the incident is alleged to have taken place and to cast doubt on Rapp’s story without actually contradicting him. Then comes the direct evasion of responsibility, where Spacey states that if this happened, it would have been “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” The paragraph ends with Spacey once again highlighting that this happened a long time ago and refusing to shoulder the responsibility for causing the feelings to which he refers: “I am sorry for the feelings he described having carried with him all these years.”

The manner in which Spacey simultaneously confronts the allegation and avoids blame is disturbing, as is his cold, calculated tone. Undoubtedly, a skilled psychologist would have something to say about this.

First, I want to highlight this usage of time to absolve predators of guilt. Abusers and their apologists often use this tactic to discredit survivors: “This happened years ago; why are you bringing it up now?” It is as if time erases criminality. Further, because the memory is not always reliable, underscoring the passage of time can cast doubt on the survivor’s ability to recall events clearly. This tactic is especially harmful when the victim of the alleged crime is/was a minor. In a situation such as this, where the power imbalance is massive, questioning the credibility of the accuser reinforces their lack of agency and shields the accused from the allegation of the serious crime of child abuse. Essentially, this tactic is used to gaslight the accuser. Gaslighting is a form of abuse itself.

Second, Spacey’s decision to blame alcohol use to absolve himself merits discussion. It is always fascinating to me when people invoke substance use to rationalize wrongdoing, since alcohol is known to lower inhibitions. Therefore, when someone tries to blame drunkenness for their inappropriate behaviour, they are actually admitting that they have a certain predilection in the first place. This is interesting because Spacey never denies preying on 14-year-old Anthony Rapp. Instead, he blames the alcohol. But alcohol does not magically transform a person into a child molester. What Spacey does here is negate the considerable age difference between himself and Rapp, which is where he begins to drag the LGBTQIA+ community down with him by conflating pedophilia and homosexuality.

Now I come to the second paragraph, where Kevin Spacey doubles down on this conflation of pedophilia and homosexuality and decides to throw other queer people under the bus instead of addressing his alleged criminality. The first sentence is dismissive and carries on this conflation. Addressing child molestation should never be a means to segue into a discussion about same-sex attraction. These two things are not related. For instance, many try to blame homosexuality for the crimes of abusive priests when, in fact, it is not the vow of celibacy that causes child abuse but the nature of the job, which grants authority and allows access to children, which would appeal to pedophiles. The gender of the children is not the point; the crime of child abuse is the point. What Spacey does here is play into the damaging stereotype of the repressed gay man who acts out by molesting children.

Next, Spacey references stories that have circulated about him. Whether he is referring to stories about relationships with men or crimes committed against minors is anybody’s guess; in any case, he has already conflated the two issues.

Then he brings up the fact that he has had relationships with both women and men. I was perplexed as to why he felt the need to mention this. What follows this adds to the harm he has chosen to do to the queer community in this statement. After alluding to bisexuality, he erases it and says that he “now choose[s] to live as a gay man.” The idea that one can choose to be gay continues to be used to demonize homosexuals and brand queer people as deviants. The decision to bring up a history of dating women and men in this context is also problematic because it invalidates non-binary sexuality. Bisexual erasure is common and poses an ongoing problem for those who exist anywhere between the two ends of the sexuality spectrum. That Kevin Spacey would both echo the arguments used by queer-antagonistic bigots and feed into the stigma attached to bi+ identities is alarming. It is as if he wants to throw as many people under the bus as possible.

The last sentence once again plays on the aforementioned stereotypes by suggesting that Spacey’s attraction to men would account for him preying on a teenage boy. This cannot be said enough: Gayness cannot be used to rationalize pedophilia. Yet it is as if Spacey is doing just that to address Rapp’s allegation.

Kevin Spacey’s entire statement is a deflection. He first deflects from the accusation of sexual assault against a minor by hiding behind alcohol consumption and then further deflects using homosexuality. This statement is a clever manipulation. The text evinces an awareness that the media would be distracted if Spacey threw them the bone they have long waited for: confirming that he is gay. It is offensive to survivors of child abuse including Anthony Rapp, to survivors of other forms of sexual assault, and to the LGBTQIA+ community, but to queer men in particular, who continue to battle stereotypes that pathologize them and associate them with sexual predation and criminality.

Eminem's Performative Politics

I have some thoughts on Eminem. Truthfully, I’ve long had thoughts on Eminem. This guy has a long history of antagonism towards women and queer people. For this reason, I will always view him with a critical eye. In my opinion, he is also a mediocre rapper. He doesn’t hold a candle to the artist who propped him up in the first place: Dr. Dre.

Eminem owes a great debt to his predecessors in hip-hop—Black people. And his fans—most of whom seem to be white as well—do too. He has an international following as well that one could probably discuss in the context of antiblackness, but that is a larger task I am not taking on right now. For years, I’ve found Eminem’s voice conspicuously absent in the Black Lives Matter movement. I’ve heard he does philanthropic work for his hometown of Detroit and that’s great. But I expect people who’ve become rich and famous owing to the gifts they’ve been bestowed by Black people to engage in anti-racism work.

This anti-Trump rant was not anti-racist. It was strictly anti-Trump. To me, it was as disappointing as every other liberal take on the current president. Time and time again, the most privileged of critics in the United States express disgust and embarrassment over Donald Trump. They seem to believe that things would be better if only he wasn’t the president. Yes, he is embarrassing and worthy of disgust, but more alarmingly, he is the result of a culture that values celebrity, money, whiteness, violence, narcissism, rigid definitions of masculinity and femininity, cis male dominance, and American exceptionalism. The toxic systems that put this character in the White House are what has to change, but instead of standing with activists fighting to change those systems and safeguard their rights and lives and those of their fellow citizens, people like Eminem are choosing simply to distance themselves from this monster—this quintessentially American monster.

He acknowledged that some of his fans probably voted for Trump. I’m sure they did. Hyper-masculinity, misogyny, and LGBTQ-antagonism are things Eminem and Trump have in common that appeal mostly to certain cis males. As he did with Trump, he disavowed those fans. Okay… I guess that’s impressive to some people who covet wealth and think Eminem did a brave thing by potentially kissing off some income. To me, it doesn’t say anything.

The whole thing felt very performative to me. Eminem did not film a video for “The Storm” and launch it online to tell his white supremacist fans to f—— off; he went to the BET Hip-Hop Awards to tell a predominantly Black audience that he wasn’t okay with Trump and his Trump-supporting fans.  

Let’s look closer at the lyrics, shall we.

Got a plan and now I gotta hatch it
Like a damn Apache with a tomahawk
Imma walk inside a mosque on Ramadan

His so-called plan evokes war and uses terms taken from Indigenous people and appropriated for this violent, imperialist American lexicon. And he claims he’s going to enter a mosque during the holiest time in the Muslim calendar just to piss Trump off. As we know, Trump has been hostile to Muslims. So, Eminem is using Muslims here, rather than showing that he cares about what happens to them under this president.

And say a prayer that every time Melania talks
She gets a mou— Ahh, Imma stop

What does Melania have to do with this? I don’t know exactly what “mou—” was supposed to mean, but it wasn’t flattering, obviously.

And here’s some liberal nonsense:

But we better give Obama props
‘Cause what we got in office now’s a kamikaze
That’ll probably cause a nuclear holocaust

Lots of people miss Obama, especially those who aren’t aware of, or are indifferent about, the number of countries he signed off on bombing during his eight years in office. American imperialism is always preferred with a smile. And the possibility of Trump launching a nuclear war is indeed something that should have people terrified out of their wits. But when Americans talk about it, I never hear empathy for the Koreans who are going to meet the same fate the Japanese did when the United States caused the first and only other nuclear holocaust.

Trump, when it comes to giving a s—, you’re stingy as I am
Except when it comes to having the balls to go against me, you hide ’em
‘Cause you don’t got the f—ing nuts, like an empty asylum

And here we have Eminem making it about himself and being all Eminem-like, up in his macho nonsense.

Racism’s the only thing he’s fantastic for
‘Cause that’s how he gets his f—ing rocks off and he’s orange
Yeah, sick tan

As I said, racism is just one of the things Trump is about. The rest is likely lost on Eminem because he is a product of the same culture and he too is a white, heterosexual, macho, cisgender man. And the last part is the same unproductive mockery of Trump that we hear from liberals on a daily basis. *Yawn* Your mockery changes nothing.

The next lines are really a rehash of the election, Trump’s hypocrisy since then, and everything that has been in the news lately about the NFL and Trump’s negligence regarding Puerto Rico. To his retelling of the news, he adds more acknowledgment of racism:

From his endorsement of Bannon
Support for the Klansmen
Tiki torches in hand for the soldier that’s black
And comes home from Iraq
And is still told to go back to Africa
Fork and a dagger in this racist 94-year-old grandpa
Who keeps ignoring our past historical, deplorable factors
Now if you’re a black athlete, you’re a spoiled little brat for
Tryna use your platform or your stature
To try to give those a voice who don’t have one
He says, ‘You’re spittin’ in the face of vets who fought for us, you bastards!’
Unless you’re a POW who’s tortured and battered
‘Cause to him you’re zeros
‘Cause he don’t like his war heroes captured
That’s not disrespecting the military
F— that! This is for Colin, ball up a fist!

And it really is nothing more profound than acknowledgment. There is no call for anything to change in this either. Even his nod to Colin Kaepernick doesn’t include any specific mention of what his protest was about. He alludes to it, but this protest is about more than just giving a voice to marginalized people; it is about the people who continue to be murdered by the state.

And the next line is more of Eminem’s patriarchal rubbish:

And keep that s— balled like Donald the bitch!

Emasculating Trump—and using a term associated with women to do it—isn’t very productive. It’s just the same old toxic crap that leads to violence against cis women, trans and non-binary people, queer cis men, and all other men who don’t conform to some prescribed form of masculinity.

Finally, let’s look at the last few lines:

And any fan of mine who’s a supporter of his
I’m drawing in the sand a line: you’re either for or against
And if you can’t decide who you like more and you’re split
On who you should stand beside, I’ll do it for you with this:
F— you!
The rest of America, stand up
We love our military, and we love our country
But we f—ing hate Trump

As I said already, he used this occasion to tell his Trump-supporting fans that he doesn’t want them. Did you know that Eminem is the top-selling hip-hop artist of all time? He can probably afford to lose some fans. But the last two lines really say it all for me. I repeat, this isn’t anti anything but anti-Trump. Eminem loves the imperialist U.S. military and the same white supremacist nation-state that he would like us to believe he was just critiquing. And he ends by confirming that this is indeed nothing more than an expression of dislike for Trump, the individual.

Hating Trump is not good enough. This was the height of performative politics. And I think it’s relevant that Eminem has an album coming out next month. Given all the accolades for this performance, I think Trump will be good for Eminem’s record sales.